Leadership light bulb at 533 am

I had an epiphany in a parking lot. This is going to come across as me calling someone out, but it really is more of me becoming aware of something many ‘leaders’/bosses/guys with fancy titles on their business cards do.

I work out with a group of guys every morning. Boot camps full of countless burpees, uphill partner carries and things called maktar jihs and monkey humpers. We go every day in parking lots and public parks at 5:15 am. What’s unique is that it’s free and peer led. (www.f3nation.com)

The men have a range of fitness levels, so some workouts end up being harder on some. And with being peer led, some of the workouts are harder than others. Recently, I was part of a workout that was pretty saucy. Hard. Really hard. To the point where I let myself just kind of give up (not easy to admit). And I wasn’t alone. By the end quite a few of us were just waiting for the workout to finish, while the guy leading went through his list of exercises.

And that’s when it hit me — he was there to workout, not lead a workout. There’s a difference.

If you aren’t looking around you at the people you are leading to see how they are doing with your leadership, you’re missing the chance to REALLY lead. Sure, people grouse all the time (we call it mumblechatter), but you can tell when your people are not on the same page with you. You need to act and address that. Not go through your list of things-to-do blind to what is happening around you. Gauge the room, get a feel of what’s going on and learn to adjust on the fly. You’ll find your leadership is far more effective.